Jyväskylä

Jyväskylä grew between a wooded ridge and Lake Jyväsjärvi, at a meeting of inland waterways. The district's farms are recorded in the early sixteenth century, and the village became a local market place within the parish of Laukaa. By the time the town was founded, the wider village contained some forty farms. Lake routes linked it southwards through Päijänne and helped make it a promising site for an inland town.

Plans for a town advanced in the early nineteenth century. In March 1837 Emperor Nicholas I signed its founding charter, directing that Jyväskylä be laid out at the market place beside the lake. At first the area held only a few houses and cottages, but the new town plan gave merchants and craftsmen a place to establish themselves.